Erika Crandall

Erika wanted to do something big for someone else and decided she wanted to help the Bailey family who lives locally here in Queen Creek. The Bailey\'s have 3-year old conjoined twins who are Emma & Taylor Bailey. The girls are connected at the heart and liver and are preparing for a very risky seperation surgery this year. Erika and other students, helped with the Two Sisters One Heart fundraiser in 2009. She felt like the girls were in more need of help so she started planning a benefit concert for Emma & Taylor. She put together a committee that she met with often. Her committee consisted of family and friends as well as other students and teachers from Poston Jr. High, Mesa High School, and Mountain View High School. To start with, she held mini fundraisers with Chik-Fil-A, Jamba Juice, and Bounce-U to cover any out of pocket costs so she wouldn\'t burden anyone. She was able to cover the costs for Concert Tickets, T-Shirts, Concessions, Flyers, and other advertising. She did things like distibuting 1,200 flyers door-to-door and she sent out a press release. She organized a raffle and silent auction and had local businesses donate high ticket items to raise more money for the separation surgery. Erika contacted America\'s Got Talent finalists, The Duttons, to perform for the benefit concert. It was such an enjoyable event that people are requesting she do this again for next year. She was able to raise about $5,000 for the Bailey family and I know she put in about 100 hours from last November into planning the evening. Erika created a website that you can see. www.2sisters1heart.blogspot.com I know she had lots of worry and some set-backs when putting together the concert but she said that all of the hard work, stress, and worries were worth every effort because she\'s come to really care about the girls. I am Erika\'s aunt and I am very proud of her. It\'s nice to see the mature young lady that she\'s becoming.

Signed,
Emily Hughes

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